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News, Sports, Weather, Traffic and the Best of SacramentoTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:58:33 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/1e592dab1a834e9f02fdb648f19487a6?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png » Only CBShttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com
CBS Leads Daytime Emmys With 62 Nominationshttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/cbs-leads-daytime-emmys-with-62-nominations/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/cbs-leads-daytime-emmys-with-62-nominations/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:15:30 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=319737It was a clean sweep for CBS on Tuesday as the the network received Emmy nominations for every show in its daytime lineup.]]>LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — It was a clean sweep for CBS on Tuesday as the the network received Emmy nominations for every show in its daytime lineup.

CBS received a total of 62 nods – more than any other network – including 25 for “The Young and the Restless” and 19 more for “The Bold And The Beautiful” as the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) announced the “42nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards” nominations during a live taping of CBS’ daytime talk show “The Talk.”

Long-running game shows “Let’s Make A Deal” and “The Price Is Right” each received two nominations each, while daytime talker “The Talk” was honored with 7 nods, the most in the show’s history.

CBS’ Saturday morning lineup received four nominations, with three for “The Henry Ford’s Innovation Nation” and the fourth for “Lucky Dog’s” Brandon McMillan, who received a nomination for Outstanding Lifestyle/Travel/Children’s Series Host.

Of course, much of this isn’t too surprising as CBS Daytime has been #1 in the day-part for 28 consecutive years, featuring a balance of dramas, game shows and talk.

The Daytime Emmys will air live exclusively on Pop on Sunday, April 26 (8:00 PM, ET/5:00 PM, PT).

And don’t miss “The Talk” as it continues the celebration with its fourth annual “After Party” on Monday, April 27 when they honor some of the night’s biggest winners. Those guests’ names will be announced following the Daytime Emmy Awards early Monday morning, April 27.

For more Entertainment news and information from CBS Local, click here.

Since his Entertainer of the Year win at the ACM Awards in 2013, Luke Bryan’s profile has only gotten high and higher. 2014 was the year he really delivered on that promise and then some, breaking through from being well known in country circles to becoming a household name.

“You can’t pinpoint sort of one song or one moment that accelerated Luke Bryan,” music journalist Alan Light says of his meteoric year. “It wasn’t like there was one single that turned the switch. It seems like there’s been this steady build, single after single and album after album, watching him go. At a certain point there was enough momentum and critical mass that it exploded.”

From his sold-out That’s My Kind of Night Tour to Favorite Male Country Artist AMA (for the third year in a row) to being on Fashion Rocks!, Bryan was everywhere in 2014, from New York City to farms in rural Georgia.

“Looking back, it’s truly an amazing year for me,” Bryan says. “I played so many iconic places and fans poured in with all of this urgency, fighting for tickets and all that. It was an amazing, amazing situation.”

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-luke-bryan/feed/0ACM Entertainer of the Year Nominee 2015: Florida Georgia Linehttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-florida-georgia-line/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-florida-georgia-line/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 17:31:46 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=318721It's Florida Georgia Line's first year being nominated for Entertainer of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, but no one is surprised they made the cut.]]>By Courtney E. Smith

It’s Florida Georgia Line’s first year being nominated for Entertainer of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, but no one is surprised they made the cut. After the massive success of “Cruise” and the No. 1 Billboard Hot 200 debut of their second album, Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard are at the top of the country music heap.

“When 2014 started, everyone wanted to know what they were going to do next,” says Cynthia Sanz of People Country. “Like, could they deliver a second album that had as many hits on it and that made people want to see them?”

The answer was a resounding yes, as FGL explored their country roots with “Dirt” and got the party started with “Sun Daze.” They picked up Billboard and AMA Awards as well as playing a nationally televised New Year’s Eve show.

“We’re country to the core, but we like to incorporate our influences, have a good time, keep it fresh,” says Kelley. “It’s that FGL sound. That’s who we are.”

Watch the video and see if who they are might land them an award for Entertainer of the Year.

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-florida-georgia-line/feed/0ACM Entertainer of the Year Nominee 2015: Miranda Lamberthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-miranda-lambert/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-miranda-lambert/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 17:30:13 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=318718Lambert put out a classic album, raised money for dogs and opened a bed & breakfast. What did you do last year?]]>By Brian Ives

In 2014, she put out one of the best albums of her career, which already includes a number of classics. Platinumhad a great coming-of-age first single (“Automatic”), a duet with the other female solo country powerhouse (“Somethin’ Bad” with Carrie Underwood) and a song that provided the GRAMMYs with one of its most rocking moments this year (“Little Red Wagon”). Let’s unpack this a bit.

While many guys were, in fact, singing about partying and bro-in’ down, in early 2014 Lambert introduced her then-upcoming album with “Automatic,” a song that looked fondly and wistfully on the past, before the days of downloads and social media, back when you taped songs off the radio if you wanted to hear them again (and you couldn’t afford to buy them on CD or cassette), and if you wanted to send a friend a message, you might use the U.S. Postal Service to do it.

When Miranda first made her big splash with 2005’s Kerosene, she was country’s biggest hell-raiser. But she’s grown up quite a bit. Now she’s in her 30s and married (you may be familiar with her husband, too: ACM Awards co-host Blake Shelton). And her newfound maturity is reflected in the songs on Platinum as well, not only on “Automatic” but also tracks like “Bathroom Sink” (the sole song on Platinum that she composed without co-writers).

All this isn’t to say that she’s lost her fiery personality, or her sense of humor, which is on full display in “Gravity’s a B—h.” “Got bags under your eyes,” she sings. “Bigger hips and bigger thighs, you’ve got places that you can’t even itch. You can nip it, tuck it, squeeze it, but you’re never gonna beat it because gravity is a….” Well, you know.

The album isn’t all about the passage of time; Lambert’s rebel spirit blasts through in “Somethin’ Bad,” and she brings Underwood along for the ride; in the video they come off like a post-millennial Thelma and Louise.

And then there’s “Little Red Wagon,” the song which nearly blew the roof off of the GRAMMYs this past February. The ceremony was filled with gravitas and serious songs; along with AC/DC, Lambert’s “Little Red Wagon” provided one of the performances that allowed the audience to simply rock out.

There are probably several more singles to come from Platinum throughout 2015. Might we suggest “Holding on to You?”

These days, Lambert is about more than music. As always, 2014 saw her working hard to advocate for dogs via her Muttnation Foundation. And she also kept moving forward as a businesswoman. In recent years, she opened two of her Pink Pistol boutiques (one in her hometown of Tishomingo, Okla., and one in Lindale, Texas), and in 2014 she opened the Ladysmith, a bed and breakfast, that’s also located in Tishomingo.

All this led to a nomination this year for Entertainer of the Year at the 50th annual Academy of Music Awards. Watch our profile of Lambert to hear more about her accomplishments in 2014.

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-miranda-lambert/feed/0ACM Entertainer of the Year Nominee 2015: Jason Aldeanhttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-jason-aldean/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-jason-aldean/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 17:27:57 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=318715Aldean broke new musical ground again this year with his R&B-flavored hit single "Burnin' It Down," and the fans loved it.]]>By Brian Ives

For years, Jason Aldean has been bringing arena-rock sounds and sensibilities to country music. In fact, some country purists may, at times, have felt he was a bit too rock for country.

But when he introduced his 2014 album Old Boots, New Dirt via the lead single “Burnin’ It Down,” it sounded like Aldean was shifting toward a more R&B, even EDM-influenced direction. In fact, if you listen to the beginning of “Burnin’ It Down” before Aldean starts singing, you might think that it was an Usher song featuring a steel guitar player.

Which is just fine with Aldean. As he told Radio.com, when he first heard the demo for the song, “It didn’t sound like anything else we had for the album so far. A lot of times those are the songs that allow you to take a couple of different paths that maybe you wouldn’t have normally taken.”

It wasn’t just that the music was a sonic departure for him; the lyrics were a bit racy compared to Jason’s earlier work. In fact, they were pretty racy for any mainstream country artist.

But Aldean has never wanted to conform to convention, and he makes no apologies for that. “Anytime you’re doing anything like that, that’s different, something that you haven’t done before, or that isn’t what people are used to hearing from you, you’re gonna have a lot of people that are sort of scared of it, a little nervous.”

And as he told us earlier this year, “I think one of the worst things somebody can say is, ‘Yeah, it’s OK.’ That means it has done absolutely nothing for you. I want it to hit a nerve one way or another. If you hate it, you’ll be talking about it, and that’s all I want.”

Old Boots New Dirt topped the Billboard Top 200 Album charts; “Burnin’ It Down” was a No. 1 single at country and even reached the pop Top 20. Safe to say, lots of people loved it.

Aldean will be playing that song and many more for a lot of people again this summer, as he embarks on yet another string of arena and stadium dates (including some as co-headliner with Kenny Chesney).

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-jason-aldean/feed/0ACM Entertainer of the Year Nominee 2015: Garth Brookshttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-garth-brooks/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/26/acm-entertainer-of-the-year-nominee-2015-garth-brooks/#commentsThu, 26 Mar 2015 17:25:46 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=318712When it came time to emerge from his self-imposed retirement, Brooks chose to do so in a big—no, wait, make that HUGE—way. Watch our ACM Entertainer of the Year video profile.]]>By Kurt Wolff

When Garth Brooks decides to do something, he doesn’t pussyfoot around. So when it came time to emerge from his self-imposed retirement, Brooks chose to do so in a big—no, wait, make that huge—way.

In late 2013 he released an eight-disc box set, featuring songs he’d been covering during his Las Vegas residency. He also performed live for fans during a prime-time CBS-TV special.

This set the stage for what was to come: Namely, a multi-year World Tour with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, an album featuring all-new material (his first in over a decade) and—finally!—a plan to release his music digitally.

While he teased some details earlier in the year, Brooks announced much of this news during a July press conference in Nashville. Fans, of course, went nuts.

His comeback tour debuted in Chicago in September, where he played a total of 11 shows. Multi-date runs in numerous cities followed, and in every case, the fans turned out in droves and were thrilled beyond belief to see Brooks back on stage again. Brooks seemed to be having the time of his life, too.

The fall also saw two new two radio singles from Brooks, the bubbly, upbeat “People Loving People,” followed later by the sentimental ballad “Mom.” Both were from Brooks’ new album Man Against Machine, which he released in November.

Brooks & Dunn are the most-awarded artist, having received 27 ACM Awards. Lambert has been the most-awarded female solo artist with 18 ACM Awards, while McEntire has the most Female Vocalist of the Year awards with seven trophies.

Meanwhile, Swift is recognized as the youngest Entertainer of the Year winner, as she won that award at the age of 21. Brooks has received the most Entertainer of the Year awards with six, while Chesney is a close second with four awards.

The 50th annual ACM Awards air Sunday, April 19 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Get exclusive merchandise for the 2015 ACMs here.

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/taylor-swift-garth-brooks-among-acm-50th-anniversary-milestone-award-recipients/feed/0James Corden’s ‘Late Late Show’ Social Media Pitch Speaks On Digital Agehttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/james-cordens-late-late-show-social-media-pitch-speaks-on-digital-age/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/james-cordens-late-late-show-social-media-pitch-speaks-on-digital-age/#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 16:26:44 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=318314Corden’s seemingly never-ending list of social media accounts to follow him on is both a hilarious joke and a commentary on the digital age humans live in now]]>“Follow us on…”

Three simple words that can make a big difference in marketing and viewership. In the 21st century, these are probably the three most-heard words across almost all forms of media, whether it be print, television, or even radio.

Culture’s obsession with being followed on all forms of social media was the butt of a recent joke by “The Late Late Show’s” James Corden, who ended his show by telling his viewers where to request tickets before heading into the obligatory mention of how to follow his show on social media.

But Corden’s social media follow requests didn’t end like most. See for yourself:

Corden’s seemingly never-ending list of social media accounts to follow him on is both a hilarious joke and a commentary on the digital age humans live in now; one filled with an overabundance of ways to stay connected and entertained.

The digital age has influenced how viewers watch television and even interact with it.

From streaming television favorites through services like CBS All Access to live-tweeting major television events, the television landscape has changed substantially over the years.

The public’s use of social media has grown exponentially since the likes of Facebook and tweets of Twitter were first introduced to the world almost a decade ago, and there are no signs of the onslaught of social media apps and platforms slowing down any time soon.

It’s safe to say that when television first broadcast in 1926 nobody saw this coming.

Make sure to tune into “The Late Show Late Show” weeknights at 12:35am ET only on CBS.

(Oh, and if you didn’t catch all of Corden’s long list, you can follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You’re on your own for all those others, so good luck with finding Chipster and Funster.)

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/25/james-cordens-late-late-show-social-media-pitch-speaks-on-digital-age/feed/1James Corden Plays Nice As ‘Late Late Show’ Hosthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/24/james-corden-plays-nice-as-late-late-show-host/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/24/james-corden-plays-nice-as-late-late-show-host/#commentsTue, 24 Mar 2015 16:05:04 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=318012James Corden began his foray as the "Late Late Show" host with a schoolboy's giggle and a bid to endear himself to viewers as a nice English bloke looking for a little American TV love.]]>LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Corden began his foray as the “Late Late Show” host with a schoolboy’s giggle and a bid to endear himself to viewers as a nice English bloke looking for a little American TV love.

Guests Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis joined the cause Monday, with videotaped cameos from celebrities including Meryl Streep, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jay Leno.

“I know what you’re thinking: ‘Oh, look, Andy Richter’s got his own show,'” Corden said as he strode onto the CBS Television City stage.

The reference to Conan O’Brien’s sidekick wasn’t far afield: Corden and Richter both are round-faced, egg-shaped and genial. But this time, the apparent second banana is the star and part of CBS’ new late-night guard that will include Stephen Colbert as successor to “Late Show” host David Letterman.

The British-born Corden has the credentials for top billing, with TV sitcom hits in his native country including “Gavin & Stacey,” a Tony Award for “One Man, Two Guvnors” on Broadway and a big-screen role in “Into the Woods.”

But Corden downplayed his career and played up his family, introducing himself as married — “Sorry, ladies, this ship has sailed” — and the father of a 4-year-old son and infant daughter.

“I promise you we’re going to have fun on this show, and I promise you we’re going to do everything we can to put a smile on your face before, or let’s be honest, more likely whilst you fall asleep,” Corden pledged, earnestly.

His parents, visiting Los Angeles from the U.K. for the first time, were in the audience and came in for gentle ribbing.

Corden’s brief opening bypassed topical jokes, possibly a sign of his style and certainly because the show was recorded Sunday. Giggles punctuated his remarks, indicating opening-night jitters for the first-time TV host who replaced Craig Ferguson.

The show’s fast-moving credits sent Corden and musician-comedian Reggie Watts, his bandleader, on a red-convertible tour of LA. Then Corden cued a video that purported to show how he, a relative unknown here, got the plum job.

CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, announcing a new “Late Late” host will be picked “the way we’ve always done it,” hides a golden ticket inside a candy bar wrapper. Hopefuls seen searching for it include Simon Cowell, Lena Dunham (“This is misogyny,” she declares, after coming up empty) and Katie Couric.

When Jenny McCarthy drops her unopened winning bar, Corden finds it and he’s in — after Leno takes on the task of getting him ready (which includes slaps and, yes, waterboarding). Help also comes from Streep as a guardian angel and Shia LaBeouf as a mock guest who tests Corden’s listening skills with his self-absorption.

“I’m a deeply dissatisfied person. And I think that’s a job requirement for any actor,” LaBeouf says, drawing yawns from Corden.

Then it was back to the studio and something new, at least on the American talk show scene, as Corden brought Hanks and Kunis out at the same time in the style of some British talk shows. More change came with the seating chart: Corden was parked at a desk to the right of his guests, and even wheeled his chair out to cozy up to them.

“I’m thrown by it,” Hanks said, wryly, of the spatial upheaval.

Good-guy Hanks later launched himself into a survey of his many films, he and Corden rapidly changing outfits and props to depict scenes from old films (“Sleepless in Seattle”) and new (“Captain Phillips”).

The evening ended with a song from Corden, in which he promised, “I’ll be right back here tomorrow and I hope you will too.”

If viewers don’t immediately take the bait, the show’s producers have pointed out they have two more opportunities to reintroduce Corden: During the hoopla over Letterman’s retirement in May and when Colbert debuts in September.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/24/james-corden-plays-nice-as-late-late-show-host/feed/0Tom Hanks, Mila Kunis, Chris Pine Among First Guests On ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/20/tom-hanks-mila-kunis-chris-pine-among-first-guests-on-the-late-late-show-with-james-corden/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/20/tom-hanks-mila-kunis-chris-pine-among-first-guests-on-the-late-late-show-with-james-corden/#commentsFri, 20 Mar 2015 23:56:12 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=317481Music guests in the next few weeks include George Ezra, Noel Gallagher and Jessie Ware.]]>By Brian Ives

On Monday night (March 23), CBS’s newest late night show—titled, appropriately enough, The Late Late Show with James Corden—will make its debut, and it will be launching with a lot of star power.

Monday night’s guests will include (as previously announced) both Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis. On Tuesday, actor Chris Pine (Captain Kirk from the Star Trek reboots) will appear on the show, which will also feature a performance by indie rockers Modest Mouse. And Wednesday will feature Get Hard co-stars Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell with musical guest Leon Bridges.

NEW YORK (AP) — An odd-couple cop drama with a not-so-buddy comedy streak: That’s “Battle Creek,” which pairs a hard-bitten detective from the budget-strapped police force in Battle Creek, Michigan, with a golden-boy agent in the flush FBI who seems incapable of making an uncertain move.

Needless to say, these partners-under-duress clash in personality and crime-solving style.

“Battle Creek,” which airs on CBS on Sunday (10 p.m. EDT), stars Dean Winters as cynical Detective Russ Agnew and Josh Duhamel as silky-smooth Special Agent Milton Chamberlain. In separate phone conversations recently, they discussed their new series, their roles and each other.

WINTERS: “After a snowstorm last February I thought, ‘I haven’t felt the snow on my head in a long time.’ I had long hair at the time, and I went and shaved it. The very next day I got a call about ‘Battle Creek,’ and I went out to L.A. for a meeting on the show. I got the job, but they said, ‘Please don’t cut your hair again!'”

DUHAMEL: “I liked the script, but my character I wasn’t so sure about. He seemed too button-down and perfect. I said to the producers, ‘Tell me there’s more to this guy than that.’ The more we talked, the more interesting he became.”

WINTERS: “We’ve seen cop shows where the partners don’t get along — most recently, ‘True Detective.’ But this show is lighthearted and felt like something fresh. Plus, we film in L.A., and it was 4 degrees in New York. I wanted to get out of there!”

DUHAMEL: “I took this role because it was a good opportunity to misdirect the audience. I’m not trying to play a handsome guy who everybody loves. I want to play a guy who’s hard to pin down.”

WINTERS: “I think Josh feels like he has something to prove, because it’s so easy to pin him down as just the good-looking guy, which can be a burden. And he’s a great-looking guy all right! You have to put on sunglasses when he walks into the room, just to tone it down. He deals with that by being a good actor.”

DUHAMEL (whose credits include “All My Children” as well as “Las Vegas” and the feature “Transformers,” and whose wife of five years is Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas): “I’m trying to surprise people, to say I’m more than a handsome guy. If people see me as just that person, then it’s my job to make them feel differently.”

WINTERS: “There’s some stuff coming down the road concerning Josh’s character that no one could have predicted. They’re NOT gonna write Josh as this Zeus-like pretty boy for the whole series!”

DUHAMEL: “I understand completely why Dean’s character can’t stand the guy I play. I don’t like the guy either! But that’s part of the fun of it. I’m happy to play this kind of character that I’m trying not to play anymore, as long as I know underneath he’s got serious issues. And this guy does! He’s a troubled soul. He’s got a lot of stuff to overcome.”

WINTERS: “I like playing the underdog on this show. I think there’s more for me to sink my teeth into. But lots of characters I’ve played have been kind of (screwed) up.” (Like his sleazy jailbird on the HBO prison drama “Oz,” his betraying brother on the firehouse series “Rescue Me” and his hapless beeper salesman on “30 Rock,” not to mention trouble-making Mayhem on the Allstate commercials.) “But as cranky and gruff as I am on ‘Battle Creek,’ and as polished and mysterious as Josh’s character is, both are very altruistic in the end game. And they’re professionals. I think that’s what keeps them from strangling each other.”

DUHAMEL: “They need each other! But I would hate for these guys to ever become buddies. I hope they never get along. I hope the rift gets deeper and deeper. But for that to work, there’s got to be a lot of trust between the actors off-camera. And Dean is a really solid dude. He’s a compassionate guy, a loving guy.”

WINTERS: “Josh is a mischievous guy with a twinkle in his eye. He’s a joy to be around. We have a really nice thing going.”

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/battle-creek-stars-dean-winters-josh-duhamel-cracking-cases-as-they-clash/feed/0The British Are Coming To Late-Night: Corden Ready To Take Overhttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/the-british-are-coming-to-late-night-corden-ready-to-take-over/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/the-british-are-coming-to-late-night-corden-ready-to-take-over/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 14:20:14 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=316993James Corden is the perfect host.]]>LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Corden is the perfect host.

He offers a visitor to his modest office at CBS Television City a pillow for an uncomfortable chair. He raids a mini-fridge for drinks, suggesting bottled coffee (“Only three calories!”). He’s attentive and appealing in conversation.

That’s for an audience of one. Now Corden must demonstrate that he’s got what it takes to please viewers when he takes over CBS’ “The Late Late Show,” Craig Ferguson’s former home, on Monday just after 12:30 a.m. EDT.

He’s proved himself elsewhere. Corden sang, danced and tumbled his way to a 2012 Tony Award for the exuberant farce “One Man, Two Guvnors”; co-starred in the movie adaptation of “Into the Woods”; and scored TV hits in his native England including “Gavin & Stacey” and “The Wrong Mans.”

Despite Corden’s estimable reputation on Broadway and in Britain, he’s largely unknown to viewers on this side of the pond.

“No matter how shocked you or anyone else might be that I’m doing the show, I’m as shocked if not more,” he said. “I never thought that this would be something that would come my way.”

It was Corden’s New York stage performance that prompted CBS Entertainment Chairman Nina Tassler to consider him as a possible successor to Ferguson, who exited in December.

“You knew that you were in the presence of someone a little crazy and someone incredibly talented,” Tassler told reporters earlier this year. “He’s a combination of Jack Black and Fred Astaire. He’s pretty magic.”

Performing was his childhood dream and a family tradition, Corden said. His great-grandfather was a musician and so was his grandfather, who toured with Shirley Bassey and other prominent singers. Corden’s father, now a Christian book salesman, was a musician in Britain’s Royal Air Force.

“There was never a minute where I ever, ever wanted to do anything else,” Corden said.

The show they’re building aims to feature Corden’s talents and provide a comfortable spotlight for his guests, the producers said — a message they’ve delivered to celebrity publicists who may be wary that Corden shares countryman Ricky Gervais’ mercilessly sharp tongue.

As for specifics, Corden and his producers said the show is and will be a work in progress, even as it airs. They are eager to import an element that’s part of some British talk shows: bringing all the guests out together, rather than one by one as is common here.

The intended result is spontaneity, Corden said, “seeing people interact in a way that is a bit more interesting.”

The show’s location is a reflection of the talk-show traffic jam in New York — including the transplanted “Tonight Show” — which has made guest bookings more competitive. In Los Angeles, “Late Late Show” has Kimmel and Conan O’Brien as its chief rivals in the talent hunt.

“We could be like third banana here, while in New York we’d be like ninth banana,” Crabbe said.

Tom Hanks, an undisputed A-lister, and Mila Kunis are the opening-night guests, followed by Kerry Washington and Chris Pine on Tuesday and Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell on Wednesday. Modest Mouse and Leon Bridges are the announced musical performers.

The show is starting out with an abbreviated launch, making way on Thursday and Friday for CBS Sports’ coverage of NCAA basketball.

That’s OK with Corden and his crew, who figure they’ve got a settling-in period ahead of them and several chances to introduce the show to potential viewers. The first is the debut, the second is during the hoopla over Letterman’s retirement and the third when Colbert starts.

Among the challenges is the void that exists between Letterman’s departure and Colbert’s entrance, which will be filled by reruns of CBS dramas. There’s also NBC’s ratings advantage, with No. 1 “Tonight” providing a strong lead-in to Corden’s direct competitor, “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”

All he can do is work hard, Corden said, who moved from London to Los Angeles with his wife and their two young children. He makes no bones about feeling the pressure on behalf of them and his colleagues who uprooted their families as well.

But, in classic British style, he mined a self-deprecating laugh with worst-case imagined news headlines.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/the-british-are-coming-to-late-night-corden-ready-to-take-over/feed/0Behind the Song: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill – ‘Meanwhile Back at Mama’s’http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/17/behind-the-song-tim-mcgraw-and-faith-hill-meanwhile-back-at-mamas/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/17/behind-the-song-tim-mcgraw-and-faith-hill-meanwhile-back-at-mamas/#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2015 18:46:07 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=316277When Jaren Johnston, Tom Douglas and Jeffrey Steele initially wrote the ACM Award-nominated song "Meanwhile Back at Mama's," they never intended for it to be a duet.]]>By Kurt Wolff

According to Jaren Johnston, when he, Tom Douglas and Jeffrey Steele initially wrote their song “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s,” they never intended for it to be a duet.

“[We] just wrote a folky thing,” the Cadillac Three singer explained to Radio.com of the song—a slower-paced ballad that focuses on the simple pleasures of quiet country life.

So when word came that Tim McGraw was interested in cutting the song, Johnston was blown away. “They said it was going to be a single and I was like, ‘Holy crap! That’s crazy,'” Johnston said.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. The song, he was informed, would not only be a single but a duet between McGraw and his wife, Faith Hill.

“[Big Machine Label Group President] Scott Borchetta said, ‘You know it’s going to be a duet, right?’ And I was like, ‘Who are they going to get?’ I had no idea. He’s like, ‘Faith’s going to sing on it.’ I was like, ‘Score! Touchdown!'”

McGraw has cut a variety of material in his more than two-decade-long career, but “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” stands as one of his quietest moments. Something about the homey, laid-back “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s,” though, struck him at his emotional core.

It’s a song of reflection that steps aside from our “crazy” modern world, if only for a few brief minutes. It’s a reminder, too, that while country music may continue to evolve in new and different directions, sometimes it’s the simplest, most familiar-sounding melody that captures the moment.

“What I wouldn’t give for a slow down,” McGraw sings in the song, “’cause where I come from, only the horses run.”

“Right off the bat, it probably wasn’t four bars into the songs that I knew I wanted to cut it,” McGraw explains to Radio.com. “The phrasing of it, and what it said, and how it developed…I knew just from the phrasing that I wanted to cut the song right away. Because you sort of had an idea of the gravity of the song.”

McGraw says he first heard the song in the car, after picking his daughter Audrey up from school. The second time was later that same day.

“I got home, I walked into the house and I said, ‘Faith, you’ve got to hear this song.’ So I played her the song, and when it got to the end and it said, ‘me and you back at Mama’s,’ a flood of tears just came down from her eyes.”

He smiles at the memory, and at how immediate a reaction they both had to the song. And he hatched a plan that very moment. “I said, ‘Not only am I going to cut, but you’re going to sing it with me.’ And that’s how it was born, right there.”

McGraw continues to describe why the song was so attractive to him: “Because of what it said, because of our life together, how we felt about family.”

‘Cause meanwhile back at Mama’s The porch light’s on, come on in if you wanna Supper’s on the stove and beer’s in the fridge Red sun sinkin’ out low on the ridge

“Every time we record a song [together], we try to make it feel like it’s a special song,” McGraw says. “Before we think of recording it, we want it to feel special to us. And that song just had ‘special’ written all over it, when we first heard it, together like that.”

Johnston has written hit songs before (McGraw’s “Southern Girl,” Keith Urban’s “You Gonna Fly,” Jake Owen’s “Beachin'” and “Days of Gold”), but as he explained, “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” turned out to be “a big moment” for him as a songwriter. That’s because, as McGraw himself explained, the country superstar has only done a handful of duets with his wife. And, notes, Johnson, “those have been mega songs for him. Career songs.”

Johnston also noted that McGraw and Hill didn’t make drastic changes to the song, choosing to keep its laid-back tone and arrangement. “My demo is very similar to what they did,” Johnston says, which he still finds surprising. “I didn’t think anybody would cut it like that as a single. You don’t hear anything like that on the radio anymore.”

Well, apparently now you do.

“Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” serves as a potent reminder that, while country music may continue to evolve in new and different directions, sometimes it’s the simplest, most familiar-sounding melody that captures the moment, and our attention.

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/17/behind-the-song-tim-mcgraw-and-faith-hill-meanwhile-back-at-mamas/feed/0Behind the Song: Keith Urban – ‘Cop Car’http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/16/behind-the-song-keith-urban-cop-car/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/16/behind-the-song-keith-urban-cop-car/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 14:44:27 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=315919"Never have I heard the song written from the point of view of a guy who’s in the back of a cop car with handcuffs on, watching a girl go completely redneck crazy at the cops," Keith Urban said.]]>By Annie Reuter

Country music is well known for its storytelling. Keith Urban‘s “Cop Car” exemplifies this point. Written by Sam Hunt, Zack Crowell and Matt Jenkins, the ACM Award-nominated song hit Urban the moment he heard it.

“It’s very hard to find new ways to serve love songs. They’ve all been done, you know? We’ve heard them all,” Urban said in an interview. “But never have I heard the song written from the point of view of a guy who’s in the back of a cop car with handcuffs on, watching a girl go completely redneck crazy at the cops. And he’s like, ‘I am getting so turned on right now.’ So, I love that song.”

Hunt, who put the song on his debut album Montevallo last year, was at producer Crowell’s house when the song began to take shape.

“Zach Crowell had this track that he was playing,” Hunt recalls. “The guitars were on there and the drum beat. It was very pretty, and I got into the vocal booth to freestyle, sing, make up melodies and lyrics. What naturally came out lyrically was lovey-dovey and a little too romantic. When the lyric and the music were pretty, I felt like it was too much. So I thought, ‘How can I put a little tough edge to this track?'”

Hunt then remembered an experience he had a few years prior while in college that involved sneaking into an airport.

“I got into a little bit of trouble at an airport after sneaking in and watching these airplanes fly over and land,” he remembers with a smile. “It was entertaining and in a little area in Alabama, where there wasn’t a lot to do when I was in college.”

Hunt threw the concept out there to Crowell and Jenkins and they began working on the lyrics to form what is now known as “Cop Car.” He admits, though, that they were initially hesitant about the song’s topic.

“It was such a radical concept that, at first, we didn’t know if it was too far out there or if it could work as an idea for a song,” he recalls. “As we kept chipping away at it, it just naturally came about, and it just felt right. It was a cool story song. I have had other story songs but that was one that was special and inspired by some true events.”

The first line that came to Hunt was “I fell in love in the back of a cop car”; the lyric “there was something about the way the blue lights were shining bringing out the freedom in your eyes” quickly came after.

“At that point, we felt like there was enough there. We felt like it was worth going after.”

]]>http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/16/behind-the-song-keith-urban-cop-car/feed/0Behind the Song: Dierks Bentley – ‘Drunk on a Plane’http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/16/behind-the-song-dierks-bentley-drunk-on-a-plane/
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/16/behind-the-song-dierks-bentley-drunk-on-a-plane/#commentsMon, 16 Mar 2015 14:42:45 +0000cbskaposthttp://sacramento.cbslocal.com/?p=315916One of 2014's biggest country hits was almost a song about a hurricane.]]>By Kurt Wolff

One of 2014’s biggest country hits was almost a song about a hurricane. Instead, thanks to the power of collaboration that happens so often among Nashville’s songwriting community, the idea Dierks Bentley first brought to the room transformed into “Drunk on a Plane.”

The second single from Bentley’s 2014 album Riser, “Drunk on a Plane” hit No. 1 and quickly became a favorite among Bentley’s fans, a song that mixes emotions (the sadness of lost love with the pure joy of a spontaneous party) and becomes an infectious song to which you can’t help but sing along. Now it’s also been nominated for Single of the Year and Video of the Year and the 50th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.

“Drunk on a Plane” begins with a guy who’s been left at the alter, and because his honeymoon plane tickets and resort fee weren’t refundable, he decides to go to Cancun by himself anyway. On the plane he starts drinking, and before he knows it, a party has erupted. “Buyin’ drinks for everybody but the pilot, it’s a party,” Bentley sings.

It’s Mardi Gras up in the clouds I’m up so high, I may never come down I’ll try anything to drown out the pain They all know why I’m getting drunk on a plane

So, where did the idea for the song come from? When Radio.com asks Bentley to tell us the origin story of “Drunk on a Plane,” he rolls his eyes a little and smiles hard. “Some songs you don’t want to know how they got made,” he says.

By way of example, he brings up “I Hold On,” his previous single (which also earned a 2015 ACM Award nomination). “I was at home, my dad had passed away, I was watching the sunset, I was thinking about our road trip from Phoenix to Nashville in this truck, about why I hold onto it. So it came from a real organic place.”

“Drunk on a Plane,” on the other hand, doesn’t have the same sort of deep, personal meaning. Instead, says Bentley, the song “was just the result of grinding away and writing songs every day for a year.”

That’s again where the power of collaboration comes in. Because as Bentley says, his origin idea for the song was not so hot.

“I walked into a writing room one day with Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins, two great writers, and I had this idea called ‘Hurricane You.’ It’s like the worst….” He stops and smiles. “As a songwriter, you have to be really good at throwing out terrible ideas and having no pride,” he continues. “So like, ‘I got this idea, alright. It’s about this girl….’ I think there had been a big hurricane somewhere, so I was like, ‘How about a song called Hurricane You?'”

As Bentley describes it, Kear and Tompkins were less than enthusiastic. “They were like, ‘OK, wow,'” he says, laughing. “In Nashville, if you don’t like an idea you say, ‘interesting.’ So that’s when you know it’s a bad idea.”

But all was not lost, because Bentley’s idea sparked another. “Josh Kear was like, ‘I’ve always had this idea of just ‘drunk on a plane.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I love planes, I love flying, and of course I love having a few drinks, so it was just a really cool idea.”

So was it always a party song? Dierks thinks for a few seconds, trying to get his mind back into that moment. For him, he finally explains, it wound up being a great mixture of emotions, layers of joy and emotional release on top of a well of sadness. “It’s kinda like a clown who’s smiling on the outside by crying on the inside,” he says. “I like that. Even though it’s a song called ‘Drunk on a Plane,’ there’s some depth to the story and to the music. It’s a good story. Relatable.”

Bentley also explains that “Drunk on a Plane” was one of the later additions to Riser, and being built around a rowdy sing-along chorus, it brought a balance to some of the album’s heavier songs.

On the album it appears after the song “Here On Earth.” The song that followed, says Bentley, needed “to be a release, not only to me, but the person listening. It’s like a gift. ‘Thanks for putting up with that last song. Thanks for crying. Here’s your reward.’”

And, of course, it works well live.

“You can’t forget what you’re there to do on a Friday, Saturday night,” Bentley says of the concert experience. “People have worked hard all week, they’re spending money for your show. You’re there to have a good time and not get too inside yourself.” So songs like “Drunk on a Plane” play a vital role. They “might not be as serious, but they are just as important as something you might write that’s heavier.”